Knife Making Workshop

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Today we did the knife-making workshop in Barrytown, which was a lot of fun. It was an all day activity, but I think we both really enjoyed it. It is held with about 8 people in a couple's yard/house. We got to do a lot of hands-on stuff, but the harder stuff was done for us or we got a lot of assistance. We started by getting our steel to put in the fire and bang on anvils. The guy running the workshop, Steve, used mine as a sample, so I got a lot of help on it. But I did get to bang on it for a bit before he came and shaped the steel into the general shape of how I wanted the blade to be. He went around to everyone to shape theirs. After that we got to cool it in some water, and then use a handsaw to cut off the excess steel. It was really hard work on the metal. But I did it all by myself. After that we went through a series of 4 sanders to polish the steel by where the handle was going to be. I liked doing that a lot - it made sparks! Then you glued on brass parts and drilled some holes in it with a drill press. Then some glue went in the holes and small pins that we got to flatten (to make a rivet). Then they drew out our handle shape on some rimu wood and we used a jigsaw to cut both sides out. I did that all by myself too - It was really hard using one hand to hold the wood and one to steer the saw. A quick sanding to the wood and then we glued the wood to the steel, and drilled holes, put glue and more pins through. We then had to sand down the brass and shape our handles a little bit. Then it was a lunch break. During lunch Steve worked on shaping the blade, and polishing some of it up, as well as shaping the handle more.

During lunch we ate some sandwiches, went for a walk around their property with his wife, Robyn, saw their miniature horses,and went out their giant swing. The swing has a rope attached that everyone pulls on really hard and it makes you swing really big. Also they had a wood board to throw ninja stars and axes at. Every time Adam threw the axe it landed handle side in! I stunk at throwing the stars....I don't think I hit the board at all!

After lunch we focused on polishing the blades and finishing up the handle. We had to scribble on the knives with ink and then go through a series of sanding belts to get it off - each time the sandpaper got more fine. Then we had to go do some hand-sanding and polishing. We moved around to a place outside their house that had chairs lined up and got to sit and sand/polish while jokes and stories were told. We got to stain the wood, and then enjoyed some Barrypagne (as opposed to Champagne because we were in Barrytown) and admired our fine knives. It was a lot of fun, and our knives look really good. It was cool to see/do the process of making knives, and I felt very accomplished with how mine turned out. I hadn't used tools/power tools in many many years.

The workshop was over around 4:30 or 5:00p and we drove down to Hokitika and went to the store to try and find food that resembled Thanksgiving dinner. Our New Zealand, van-cooked version turned out to be: chicken schnitzel, instant mashed potatoes and boysenberry cheesecake. The instant mashed potatoes tasted okay, but the consistency was really gooey and weird. The cheesecake however was amazing. I didn't miss pumpkin pie at all! It was a lot of fun, even if it was nothing like dinner would be at home.

After dinner we decided to checkout the glowworm dell that was across the street from where we were staying. It was really crowded and the pathways were all fenced off so you couldn't get very close to where the glowworms were. A lot of people were trying to take pictures with their flash, so that kind of ruined the ambiance a little. It was fun to see (because it was free and glowworms are cool) but it wasn't as nice or as special as when we had gone by the waterfall a few days earlier.

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Photos

Knife Making Workshop
The completed knives. Ours were the 3rd and 4th from the left. Above the knives are the only materials used to make them: steel, wood, brass and pins.

Axe Throwing
Adam gets his axe in....handle side!

Giant Swing
We were able to pull Adam really high up on the swing at lunch!

Giant Swing
My turn on the swing